The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell [198]
"And Anne," George said, uncomprehending but certain, the heart in him going dead.
Emilio nodded again.
THE RUNA WERE still out harvesting anukar, so they were alone. Supaari came with them to Sofia and Jimmy’s apartment, having been told only that Ha’an and the Elder had been killed. He was shocked and could see the distress all around him. They love one another, he thought, hardly knowing whether to envy or pity them.
Fia, the tiny one with the black mane, told the tale. Knowing Supaari had been fond of Ha’an, she repeated parts of it in Ruanja for him. Dee and Ha’an were killed by some kind of animal, she told him. "Manuzhai and the others told us to be careful for djanada. Someone thinks a djanada attacked them."
"This was not an animal. Djanada are Jana’ata, do you understand? But these are dishonorable men. The killer was VaHaptaa," Supaari said, making his contempt obvious. "Do you understand this word? Haptaa? In Ruanja, it is brai noa."
The small, dark interpreter spoke for the first time, in Ruanja first and then in H’inglish for the others. "Brai noa. Without a home. VaHaptaa is ’from nowhere.’ Landless, perhaps."
Sandoz, Supaari remembered then. He had learned the names of Ha’an’s companions slowly but had trouble with the interpreter’s. Meelo, the Runa called him. And Ha’an had called him Emilio. And the Elder had called him Son, and the others called him Sandoz. So many names! They had confused Supaari at first. "VaHaptaa are criminals," Supaari explained. "They have no place. They are outsiders: n’jorni." He searched for some simple parallel. "Do you recall the first day of our meeting? Someone was angry because it is a crime to take meat without permission. This taking is called khukurik."
"Poaching," Sandoz said, lifting his chin to show he understood.
"VaHaptaa take without permission. Khukurik is not permitted. You should kill that one if you see him again," Supaari told them. "Someone would thank you for this service. And the VaKashani will also be grateful. VaHaptaa are dangerous to them: djanada, do you understand?"
They did now, they thought. Too late, but now they understood.
Supaari bid them farewell after that, feeling it was time to leave the foreigners to their own death rituals. Sandoz accompanied him to the dock, always courteous if he understood how to express respect. Supaari knew the foreigners well enough now to realize that insult was always born of ignorance, not malice. "Sipaj, Sandoz. Someone is sorry for your loss," he said, climbing down into the boat.
Sandoz looked at him. The strange brown eyes were less disturbing to Supaari now; he was used to the tiny round iris and knew that Sandoz and the others did not see through some sorcery but in a normal way. "You are kind," Sandoz said at last.
"Someone will return before the end of Partan."
"Our hearts will be glad of it."
Supaari cast off and backed the powerboat around the dock, turning it into the southern channel toward the village of Lanjeri, where he had business to attend to. He looked back once before his boat rounded the bend and saw the foreigner still standing on the dock, a small black silhouette against the Kashan cliffside.
THE LONG EVENING passed with George alternately sitting and pacing, sobbing suddenly and then laughing through the tears, telling Jimmy and Sofia stories of Anne and of their marriage, and then falling silent. It was almost impossible to go home to where Anne wasn’t, but George finally moved to leave. Sofia burst into tears again, undone by memories of her widowed father’s grief and by her own sadness and by the thought of losing Jimmy as George had lost Anne. Pressing George’s hand against her belly, she said with fierce conviction, "You are this baby’s grandfather.